Hi my dears
Today’s Holy Nougat is three-verses long, but bears reading together for clarity.
“They said to them, “We can’t do this thing—give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised—for this is a disgrace to us.
Then we’ll give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves, and live with you, and become one people.
Then on the third day while they were in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came against the city undisturbed and killed every male.” Genesis 34:14, 16, 25 TLV
Two issues immediately come to mind on reading this piece of the Jacob narrative:
- Reprisal (not quite honor) killings
Reprisal killings
The brothers felt justified in decimating an entire population in response to their sister being defiled. As a Jamaican, I’ve seen news releases on reprisal killings in rival communities sometimes going beyond the generations. And usually the innocent residents live in fear, not knowing if they would be the next reprisal victim. But there must be another way to solve the issues; especially since Dinah did not really stand to benefit from her brothers’ acts of revenge. Was it justifiable? Punishment; yes definitely. Annihilation; Not necessary.
Generational Patterns
We note that the brothers LIED to Shechem and Hamor; citing the need for circumcision; knowing that their the sole intention was to kill all the men. All in the name of defending Dinah’s honor.
It may not seem similar; but wasn’t there some patterns in the brothers’ actions that are traceable to Jacob & Laban ? The strategic unscrupulous manipulation of a situation to their benefit, and the willingness to deceive … while Jacob was (could be called) non-violent; his actions against Esau could be seen as equally treacherous.
We note that when Abel found favor with God, Cain was incensed. In the midst of Cain’s anger came the warning – sin is laying in wait for you. Let’s not forget Jesus’ warnings in the sermon on the Mount regarding anger and violence.
Now I am not arguing that every child of violent persons will manifest violet behavior. But I do believe that generational cycles are often repeated and perpetuated in the crucible of pain or crisis.
What then is our response? We can opt to
- Guard our emotions, avoid responding in anger
- Be sensitive to the shift in our moods
- Seek counseling if we know we have anger management challenges
- Honor the humanity of the other
- Recognize negative generational (family) patterns; discuss it and dare to be different
- Address these subjects in Bible study and small group meetings: request it if it’s not currently on the line up of topics
- Pray for us all who are still learning self-control
[Feel free to add others you have successfully done]
May God’s be with us in these times.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
